Harden Your Heart
by Jakespeed207
Summary: What if Isaac had reacted more strongly when Ellie accused him of sabotaging everything after Isaac was forced to kill Norton? What could happen if Isaac isn't always focused on Ellie? Can Isaac harden his heart towards the woman he loves, for her sake? AU. IsaacxEllie, with some showing of IsaacxSantos.


**Welcome to another story that came to my mind! Once again, this is Dead Space (My third favourite franchise ever). This happens a few moments after *spoiler if you haven't played DS3* Isaac shoots Norton in self-defence. Honestly, as much as I disliked the guy, I still don't understand why Isaac shot him in the head. If he had that much precision and the gun had more than one bullet, he could have hit him in the legs, or the arms, or even the torso if there was a md-pack handy. I feel like it was a bit of a cop-out. But, regardless, enjoy.**

**The idea behind this is: What if Isaac had accepted his shortcomings when Ellie yelled at him during the climb up the cliffs, and he decided to push her away, as much as it might hurt him? How would the team dynamics change if Isaac wasn't so focused on his ex?**

_**0o0o0o0o0o0**_

"Ellie, come on. Norton was pointing a gun at my face! I'm sorry."

"Is that supposed to make it ok?! You never believed in me, or this mission, or _us! _I had to go find someone else to do it _and now he's dead! _You sabotaged it! Just like everything else!"

"What's that supposed to mean? Is that what you really think?"

"Yes! They brought you here _at gunpoint! _I guess that's what it took!"

Isaac stopped his run and stood near the edge of the cliff he had climbed, that last transmission making his mind recoil in shock. Never in the entire time that they had been on this frozen ball had he ever considered jumping off a cliff and ending his life. Not when he saw Ellie and Norton kissing; not when he was jumped by not one but _two _regenerating necromorphs; not when he saw Buckell die of hypothermia; not even when he fought the Nexus and was subsequently forced to shoot Norton in order to remain alive. No, it was now, when Ellie pointed out just what a failure and a coward he had been to her, that he felt the most shame and self-loathing. It was truly his worst moment.

And that plain realisation caused him to think even deeper. He had been a failure, a broken man, for more than three years. He had failed Zach Hammond, only being able to watch helplessly behind a glass as he was brutally killed; he'd failed Dr Kyne, only being able to watch helplessly as he was murdered by Kendra; he'd failed Nicole, only being able to watch helplessly through a video log as she committed suicide, preferring death over the madness that had been wrought on the USG Ishimura; he'd failed Nolan Stross, only being able to watch helplessly as he descended further and further into madness until he was forced to kill the man; and worst of all, he had failed Ellie Langford, being unable to help her when Stross attempted to kill her, or when EarthGov was after him, or when she wanted to stop the Marker epidemic universally...

And he didn't like what he saw could happen to her if he continued like this.

"Isaac?!" Ellie said in an enraged tone, thinking that Isaac was ignoring her because he didn't care. "Say something, you bastard!"

"You're right..."

That nearly whispered response drew Ellie short and surprised both John Carver and Jennifer Santos, who had been listening to the fight as they were all on the same channel.

"W-what?" Ellie stuttered, completely startled. Out of all the responses she expected, the broken agreement that Isaac had given her was not one.

"You're right... You're completely right, as always," Isaac continued, his voice sounding more and more broken. He kept imagining the many ways Ellie could meet her demise in this crazy endeavour, and it was making him spiral deeper and deeper into depression. This was not made any better by the whispers that were sounding out in his mind, most likely by the Markers that were frozen all around the planet. They whispered to him that he was worthless, that he would fail every time, that his fight against the Markers was hopeless and they would kill every one of his companions, taking their time to slash them apart little by little before sacrificing them to the Markers…

But, out of the dark thoughts, a determination he didn't know he had inside of him burst, and it all focused on one thing: keeping Ellie from dying at the hands of the Markers, at any cost! It was like a bright flare in the middle of the night, pushing away the shadows and causing new energy to course through his being, making him stand straighter.

And with that thought, he did one of the hardest things he had ever done.

He hardened his heart towards Ellie Langford, for her sake.

"You're right," Isaac repeated, forcefully this time, "which is why I won't sabotage anything anymore."

"What... What are you talking about, Isaac?" Ellie asked, almost fearfully.

"I will finish this mission, Ellie," Isaac responded, "even if I have to die in the process. If this is the home of the Markers, then I will destroy it at all costs. With the help of Santos we can create a codex and turn off the machine, thereby stopping the Markers. But if I survive, and the Markers haven't been stopped..." Here, Isaac's voice lowered until he was speaking in a tone that seemed resigned. "... If I survive, I'll keep going. I'll keep hunting the Markers, and destroying them... and you won't have to worry about me sabotaging anything again."

"What?" Santos exclaimed.

"Isaac!" Ellie yelled desperately.

Carver said nothing, secretly admiring Isaac for doing something that he wasn't able to do for a long time with regards to Damara.

"Isaac, no, don't do this! We-,"

"No, listen to me, Ellie!" Isaac yelled, effectively shutting her up. "We're facing the same discussion we had before I sent you away on that gunship at Titan Station! Like I said then, I couldn't save Nicole! I can't save anyone! I'm simply the Marker Killer, meant to find and destroy Markers! You said it yourself! I sabotaged your mission, just like everything else! And because of that, I plan to finish it!"

Without another word, Isaac reassembled his helmet and said a few final words.

"It's better for you to be away from me, Ellie. I don't want you to end up as another casualty."

And with that, he cut the connection, checked his waypoint, and ran, hardening his heart as best as he could toward the second woman he could see himself loving.

**_0o0o0o0o0o0_**

Down at the base of the cliff, Ellie was standing exactly where she had been, shocked and scared at Isaac's implication. When it all finally hit home, she sat, leaned her back against the cliff wall, and began to cry again, although this time it was for a completely different reason, while Santos tried to comfort her and Carver watched with troubled eyes as memories flashed in his mind.

**_0o0o0o0o0o0_**

As Isaac ran through the frozen caves of the cliff he was traversing, he began to wonder if what he had done was a good idea. He didn't want to hurt Ellie any more than she already was, but she was only going to be more hurt if she continued to be with him.

His senses alerted him of the sound of an ice pick slamming against, well, ice. Carefully, he pulled out the newest weapon combination he had created at the Bench (a plasma cutter/revolver combination with several damage and reload upgrades) and aimed it forward, keeping his heavy weapon combination clipped at his side for now. The sound turned out to be a Waster which was continuously picking at a thick slab of ice. Isaac slowed his steps, planning to circumvent it, but the Waster seemed to sense him, as it turned its head and yelled out in its usual growling way when it spotted him. It began to stand, but Isaac did not let it, taking off its legs and arms with several well-placed shots, killing it. He ran in the direction his waypoint signalled (picking up the medium health pack the Waster had dropped with his Kinesis as he passed), knowing that the sound would most likely attract other necromorphs.

Predictably, a Slasher popped out of the snowy ground like a whack-a-mole, waving its arms up in what Isaac recognized as the normal pose it took when it planned to grab him. He deftly dodged to the side, clipped his light weapon to his right side, and pulled out his heavy weapon: a sniper rifle which had a hydraulic engine as a secondary weapon. He had fitted a conical dispersion tip onto the hydraulic engine, which turned it into something similar to a hammer which could bust almost anything.

Isaac used the lower weapon now, activating it and swinging it around in a practiced twirl. With the sound of crunching bone, the Slasher's head and arms were unceremoniously ripped off from its body, killing it. Isaac punched the body as it fell, making a pack of semiconductors pop out. Feeling glad that necromorphs almost always have something of value inside, _somehow, _Isaac stashed the pack of semi and bolted for the exit of the caves, hearing several necromorphs rampaging behind him.

Finally reaching the mouth of the cave, he stepped back out into the cold, windy cliff side and turned, bringing up the sniper rifle/ hydraulic hammer combo and aiming it at the entrance. Not two seconds later, a Slasher ambled out of the cave, looking for the pack of fresh meat that was Isaac. Without delay, Isaac pulled the trigger and shot a sniper shell into the body of the necromorph, which immediately felled it. As he kept taking out the zombies that ran out with calm accuracy, he came to ponder the oddity that were sniper shells, as they could somehow kill a necromorph if the damage was upgraded enough without even needing to dismember it, whereas with every other weapon, minus the obvious explosive ones like the grenade and missile launchers, you'd waste a shitload of ammo on the body before the creature fell.

Isaac's distraction nearly cost him his head, as a Waster had evaded his shot and was running full speed toward him. He came back to his senses with enough time to launch himself sideways, narrowly dodging the slash of the hatchets the necromorph was carrying, and slashed the body in half before also slashing off the tentacles that sprouted from its back once it fell.

After a minute of silence, Isaac relaxed and reloaded, taking the time to use a small med pack in order to bring his overall health back up.

Finally, after two or three turns, Isaac found himself in front of a lift that was stuck to the side of the cliff. He opened the communication channel and said, "Alright, guys, I found a lift, but it's wedged into the side of the cliff. I'm gonna free it and send it down."

"Isaac-" Ellie said desperately.

"Not now, Ellie," Isaac said shortly, his comment being backed by the roar of a Slasher that was approaching from the other side of the lift. With a precise shot, he killed it and subsequently made it fly over the edge due to the recoil. Turning his attention back to the lift, he noticed a rolling gear just behind the lift's cord and used Kinesis to roll it to the side, pulling the lift from the edge of the cliff and sending it down slowly.

"Alright guys, the lift is on its way. Do you see it?"

"Yeah, we see it," Carver commented, "it looks a little shaky though."

"It'll hold long enough. You guys might want to pack up your gear now so you don't have to spend too much time in it when it arrives up here," Isaac advised, a bad premonition pulling at the back of his brain. "I'm going to go find the winch."

He cut the connection before anything else could be said and continued through the cliff side, taking care of every necromorph that got in his path with his expertise and precision. During the entire trip, he was stubbornly pushing away the thoughts of Ellie, putting them at the back of his mind, instead focusing all his strength on finding the winch.

A sudden transmission came through his RIG.

"Oh god, they're everywhere!"

"Santos, get behind me!"

"Ah shit!"

Several roars followed the statements from Santos, Ellie, and Carver, respectively. Isaac listened with worry and called out, "Ellie? Carver? What's going on?"

"Necromorphs, man, what else?!" Carver shouted.

"Use the cage as a base!" Isaac advised quickly. "Cover all open sides and make them work to get into it! It'll narrow down the path and make it easier to kill them!"

"Copy that! We're about to- wait, what the hell is that thing?!"

"What, what is it?!"

"It's like… a giant spider necromorph or something!"

"The Snow Beast…" Isaac muttered, recalling the name one of the scientists had given the giant necromorph. "Carver, use Stasis! Slow it down and hit the tentacles! Don't let it approach!"

"Copy that!"

"Ellie, you got that?!"

"Yeah, I copy!"

Without further ado, Isaac turned and continued running, going up one more section of cliff with the climbing gear already set up.

A minute later, as he landed on the next cliff and ran into another icy cave, he got a transmission from the group.

"Isaac, we're ok! We managed to drive them away."

"Great," Isaac said with a relieved sigh. "I'm not too far from the next winch."

"Isaac, about Robert…" Ellie started, and paused as if expecting Isaac to hang up on her. When he didn't, she continued. "I… just don't see why he would try to kill you!"

"He was jealous, that's why," Isaac explained shortly. "He was really into you, which is why he and I butted heads so often." As he said the words, the pain in his heart increased, but Isaac did not change his tone. "While I kept agreeing with you about the planet, he kept wanting to go home. And as he was getting constantly outvoted, he kept getting more and more jealous."

"But the mission is everything! I thought Robert understood that…" Ellie trailed off sadly.

"His jealousy of our history was much stronger…" Isaac also trailed off, before getting an idea. "Are you in a safe spot?"

"Yeeees?" Ellie said unsurely.

"Then bunker down and watch this. Maybe then you'll get an idea," Isaac said before sending her the transmission between Norton and himself through a private channel that Norton had started, which Isaac's RIG had recorded.

Ellie sat down at a corner of the cage as a picture of Norton appeared in front of her as if he had been transmitting directly into her RIG. Carver and Santos watched the image backwards.

_"__Isaac, Norton here."_

**_Beat_**

_"__Why are you contacting me on a private channel?"_

_"… __Because I need to know if you're on my side."_

**_Pause_**

_"__We're taking sides now?"_

_"… __I know you two… had a _thing_… but she's mine now, and I love her too much to let her do this."_

_"__If she's right, and this is the Marker home world, maybe there's a chance of stopping this-!"_

_"__Look, look, we both know how this is going to end. If they found a way to stop the Markers two hundred years ago, don't you think we'd all be safe by now?! It doesn't add up!"_

**_Pause, then a bitter laugh from Norton_**

_"__Oh, oh I get it. Yeah, you think you, and her… yeah, well, forget it! She's over you, alright?"_

Ellie gasped, tears trailing down her face, as Norton closed the video transmission. She couldn't believe Norton's jealousy. How dare he?! How dare he try to exploit Isaac through his feelings?!

"Isaac…" Ellie said tearfully, "Why didn't you bring this up before?"

As Isaac neared the exit of the icy cave he had just cleared of slashers and exploders, he replied, "Because it would just have brought more trouble than it was worth." As he exited the cave, something in front of him caught his attention. "Hey, I found another lift, but still no winch. You guys alright down there?"

"We're doing fine, Isaac," Santos responded, seeing as Ellie was in no condition to do so. "Just hurry and focus on finding the winch."

"Got it. Isaac out."

With that, he cut the channel and continued on.

**_0o0o0o0o0o0_**

After one more climb and several necromorphs, he finally found the winch that connected to the lift he had sent down.

"Alright guys," Isaac said through the communication channel, "I found the winch. I'm going to start it up. Hang on to something."

"Wait!" Santos called out fearfully. "I don't like this!"

"Just talk to me," Isaac said soothingly as he activated the winch and watched as the wire began to withdraw. "What's our next step?"

"Well…" Santos started shakily. "We now know that, in order to turn off the machine, we'll need some sort of key. The scientists called it... the Codex."

"Where will we find this Codex?"

"We have to make one."

"And how do we do that?"

"The same way they did two hundred years ago. With Rosetta's research. Oh my god!"

"Calm down," Isaac said soothingly, inspecting the sparking, halted winch. "It's just blown a fuse. Maybe I can divert power from the lights. Hang on."

Isaac quickly walked up to the transformer box where the power grid was and opened it to try and balance power from the lights to the winch. As he worked, he reopened the channel and said, "So, Santos, tell me more about this 'Rosetta'"

"Well, we don't know much," Santos continued, "other than that her research was used to make the Codex."

"Good, see? You're almost here."

Closing the transformer after successfully balancing the power, Isaac walked back down to the winch and held it manually, turning it so that the lift rose to the intended stop. He looked to the lift as he locked the cable down and noticed that they were all packed and ready to go, just as he had advised.

Unfortunately, danger loomed at every corner regardless of precautions.

Just as Ellie and Carver exited the lift and Santos was about to shakily step out, the Snow Beast that had fought Isaac twice now jumped up from who-knows-where and latched onto the lift, making Santos lose her balance and fall back into the lift with a terrified scream.

"AH! ISAAC! HELP ME!"

"SANTOS!" Isaac yelled helplessly, having needed to hold on to the winch so the cable car wouldn't fall. "Carver, damnit, gimme a hand!"

Carver quickly ran up to the winch and grabbed the other side, helping Isaac sustain it. The Snow Beast was wrecking havoc on the cable car, the cliff, and Santos' sanity.

"Isaac! It's too heavy! It's going to take the cliff down and us with it!" Carver shouted.

"No! Hold on to it! I can reach her!" Isaac explained, making plan after plan in his mind. Finally, one came to the forefront, almost making him reiterate the explanation he'd given Ellie on Titan about him being full of bad ideas.

"SANTOS! SANTOS, LOOK AT ME!" Isaac yelled out, drawing Santos' attention for the moment amidst her screams. "WHEN I TELL YOU TO JUMP, YOU JUMP, GOT IT?!"

"ISAAC, I'M SCARED!" Santos cried out as she moved back from the edge, trying to dodge the massive legs of the gigantic necromorph.

"**SANTOS**!" Isaac said in a rough voice, startling her hard enough that she looked at Isaac in shock. "Trust me!"

Santos put a hand on the railing behind her but nodded. On a mental countdown, Isaac yelled out, "Now!"

Santos ran toward the edge of the lift, pumped her legs, let go of her backpack, and jumped. At the same time, with perfect timing, Isaac let go of the winch with his left hand and fired a blue bolt of Stasis at both the cable car and the creature hanging on to it, giving Santos ample time to reach them.

However, her jump hadn't been strong enough. She wasn't able to reach the cliff... and subsequently plummeted down to the frozen ground several hundred feet below with a cry of, "**ISAAC**!"

"**SANTOS**!"

With that yell, Isaac let go of the winch completely and quite possibly did one of the dumbest things in his life: he jumped right after her.

"**ISAAC**!" This time, the scream came from both Ellie and Carver, but mostly Ellie. Carver, being unable to hold on to the winch all on his own, was forced to let go, which sent the cable car and the giant necromorph plummeting down along with the two engineers.

**_0o0o0o0o0o0_**

_'I am one crazy motherfucker,' _was Isaac's main thought as he fell at rapid speeds towards the screaming and tumbling form of Santos.

"Santos! Over here!" Isaac cried out, making her attention snap to him. She attempted to waddle toward him, but found it impossible in the air. Isaac used his thrusters to get closer to her, but found that they'd hit the next cliff before he could catch her. Thus, he used his final plan: extending his left hand, he used Kinesis to pull her toward him. He wasn't even sure if it would work on humans, as it normally didn't work on moving necromorphs, but he was desperate at this point.

Thankfully, it did. Santos' fall was stopped slightly by the camp of Kinesis that tugged at her body. With a cry of triumph, Isaac closed in and wrapped his arms around her, holding her steady. Remembering the flight he had taken from the Solar Panel Array on Titan Station down to the EarthGov Tram Station, Isaac turned so that his boots were facing the ground and pumped as much energy into them as he could, slowing their descent enough that they were able to hit a bank of ice without breaking any bones and simply slid down until they reached the edge of the cliff.

Isaac lay on his back, panting in exertion as the adrenaline wore off. Santos was beside him, head on his chest, crying softly.

"Ssh, ssh, it's alright, I got you, Santos," Isaac said softly into her ear, succeeding in calming her down, if only slightly.

"I... I thought... I thought I was going to die!" Santos said between sobs.

"Not on my watch," Isaac said seriously. "I'm not letting anyone else die."

Suddenly, Isaac became aware of a shadow covering them. It was darkening slowly, and seemed to be moving. Looking up, his eyes widened as he spotted the sight of the cable car, with the still attached Snow Beast, falling directly on their position.

"Santos, move!" Isaac yelled, jumping to the side and taking the woman with him just in time. The cable car slammed into the part of the cliff they had been sitting at and bounced off with a rattling crash, shaking the Snow Beast loose and sending it over the edge of the cliff and into the white void with a terrifying roar.

Santos suddenly jumped up and hugged Isaac, thanking him over and over for saving her life. Isaac was in the middle of assuring her that he was happy to do so when his RIG received a transmission.

"Isaac?!" Ellie called out, sounding distraught. "Isaac!"

"Ellie, I'm fine! I got Santos! We're ok," Isaac reassured her.

"Oh, thank god..." Ellie sighed, relaying the news to Carver. "Can you two get back up here?"

"Yeah, I think there's a way around the side. We'll be there soon," Isaac assured her. After closing the channel, he helped Santos up, and together, they walked to where the other climbing gear should be located.

"Isaac?" Santos said lowly.

"What's up, Santos?"

Santos opened her mouth, but seemed to think better of it and simply shook her head roughly. "Never mind."

"You sure?" Isaac asked with concern. Santos nodded and smiled at him reassuringly. Isaac smiled back.

A roar from in front of them startled them both. Isaac quickly brought up his light weapon and aimed it at the fog while Santos got behind him and looked over his shoulder.

Some yards ahead, the very Snow Beast that had attempted to kill them both at least once stalked toward them slowly, roaring out a challenge which Isaac gladly took.

"Santos, go hide. I'm going to take care of this asshole once and for all," Isaac said shortly. Santos nodded and ran to his left, looking for a good place to stay down. Isaac reloaded his weapon, checked his Stasis and health, and walked straight toward the monster, preparing himself for the battle that would come.

**_0o0o0o0o0o0_**

From her hiding place behind a large rock that was nearby, Santos watched in awe as Isaac fearlessly walked up to the growling monster, which had three large tentacles flailing from its back. The tentacles had large yellow spots around the middle, which Santos figured were the weak spots of the creature. This hypothesis was proven when Isaac slowed down the creature with Stasis and proceeded to take off two of the tentacles with his Plasma Cutter before it could move, making the beast recoil in pain with a high-pitched scream. To Santos' horror, it withdrew the remaining tentacle and charged right at Isaac, who stood his ground. Just when Santos was about to yell at Isaac to move, the man dodged to the right, narrowly dodging the creature's frontal left leg. It brought out the last tentacle it had and turned to Isaac, and this time Isaac didn't need Stasis in order to sever the last tentacle.

The creature recoiled in pain and shook for some time before three yellow sacks came out from what Santos assumed was the creature's mouth. Without wasting time, Isaac used Stasis to slow down the beast and then both the Plasma Cutter and Revolver to destroy all three sacks, making the beast fall onto its haunches and struggle to stand. Santos nearly cried out in happiness, but noticed that Isaac didn't move from his position. And rightly so, as the creature stood up once again and three new tentacles appeared from its back, making the female engineer groan. Feeling helpless, Santos looked around the cliff they were standing on, trying to find something she could use to help. To her relief, she spotted something on a small hill that was a few yards away. Keeping an eye out for any necromorphs, Santos ran.

**_0o0o0o0o0o0_**

Isaac dodged to the left in order to avoid the Snow Beast's legs, which attempted to skewer him. He knew that he didn't have much time and needed to think of something pronto, but this thing was like the Regenerator, it just wouldn't stay down by conventional means.

As he backed up and shot Stasis at the creature, he nearly jumped at the sound of a machine starting up. Turning slightly, he caught sight of a generator that had been just started up if the snow falling from it was any indicator. Looking farther up, he could just see Santos' form running towards…

"A harpoon gun?" Isaac asks aloud with confusion. Looking farther to the left, he sees another one, which is also reactivated. "_Two _harpoon guns… no shit!"

Isaac was about to turn around and see if he can do anything to help when he is hit on the ribs by the Snow Beast, which sends him flying past the guns. He ends up slamming into a wall and sliding down to his ass in pain. This lapse in concentration left him unable to notice the Snow Beast begin to stalk toward him slowly, much like a lion approaching its wounded prey.

Isaac looked up when he felt the tremors of the creature's legs, watching it approach carefully. Looking to the sides, he became aware that the thing had him trapped, as there was nothing but wall to either side of him.

"Damnit…" Isaac muttered. Gathering his strength, he was about to try and jump to the side in order to avoid its normal charge attack, but was startled when a harpoon flew out of the gun to his left and dug deep inside the creature, making it stumble. Isaac looked up in shock and then in wonder as he saw Santos grab on to the torque control for the gun and attempt to pull it away, a determined frown on her face. Unfortunately, the creature was more powerful than Santos, and she was unable to actually move it. She did manage, however, to buy Isaac enough time for him to stumble away from the wall the Snow Beast had cornered him against.

The systems engineer looked around as he used a health pack on himself, looking for a way to stop the beast, and noticed that the other harpoon gun had what seemed like a tracking laser under the loaded harpoon. With a quick use of Kinesis, he moved the harpoon gun so that it faced the beast. Almost automatically, the gun focused on the giant necromorph and shot another harpoon into its body, making it stumble further. Out of the corner of his eye, Isaac saw another torque control station, one that controlled both guns, open up.

"Santos!" Isaac called through an audio link to her RIG, "Move out of the way!"

Santos nodded and jumped away from the gun, letting go of the individual gun's torque control. Isaac didn't let the Snow Beast have a free moment and immediately grabbed the master torque control with Kinesis and began to turn it, causing the harpoons to retract slowly and in separate directions.

The harpoons began to reel in and pulled the Snow Beast up with them, hanging it as if it were on a clothesline. After a few seconds of reeling, they eventually succeeded in ripping the necromorph in two, the destruction accompanied by several sickening cracks and rips. With an almost mournful wail, the top half of the Snow Beast flailed for a few moments before what Isaac assumed was the head fell onto the ground and the rest of the body didn't move.

Silence reigned for a few moments, until Isaac became aware of approaching footsteps from his right. He turned his head and saw Santos approaching slowly, her hoodie up.

"Good job, Santos," Isaac praised her when she was next to him. "I probably would have been necro-feed if you hadn't stepped in."

"I guess we have saved each other's life at least once now, wouldn't you say?" Santos asked with a cheeky smile.

Isaac laughed and said, "You're damn right!" Looking around, Isaac's eyes noticed the climbing gear that was next to a slightly unstable cliff. "I think we better get moving. Ellie and Carver will probably be worried by now."

Santos nodded and followed him to the climbing gear. He showed her how to stick the hook to her gear on a place that she was sure wouldn't snap off mid-climb. Finally, both of them pulled the levers and were pulled against the cliff, beginning the ascent to the top of the mountain. On the way, Isaac was sure they'd see more necromorphs, so he handed Santos his light weapon (the Plasma/Bullet Revolver) and some ammo and gave her a quick overview on how to use it. She was unsure at first, not having much experience with guns but mostly not wanting to deprave Isaac of something that could save his life. But when he assured her that he could make another one at any bench, she relented and fired the weapon a few times to get a feel for it.

After a short climb where they took care of several Lurkers that were probably just hanging out on the cliff side, they finally reached the top. Ellie approached them and helped bring up first Isaac, who immediately let go of her hand and studied their surroundings, then Santos. They all got together, looking up at the buildings that stood on top of the mountain.

"So, where do we find this Rosetta?" Carver asked with a frown.

"There should be a lab higher up on the mountain," Santos explained, missing her notes but quickly reminding herself that her life was more important. "We have to find a way to get there."

"Well, there's some stairs leading up to the facilities," Ellie said, pointing to the ladder that led to the path to the buildings.

"Let's go, then," Isaac said, already walking to the ladder. He let Santos go first, then Ellie, then Carver, and finally went himself. However, just as he reached the halfway point, a shudder went through the ladder, making him stop. He waited, but it didn't happen again, so he kept going.

One step later, the ladder suddenly broke and sent him plummeting to the roof of the building next to it, accompanied by a muffled curse.

Isaac lay on the snowy ceiling for a few moments, dazed, before he picked himself up and muttered, "Shit…"

"Are you alright?" Ellie called out.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Isaac called back. He looked around before saying, "You guys go on, and we'll meet at the lab!"

The trio nodded, with Ellie saying, "I see a ground route! I'll send you the coordinates!"

"Alright, got it!" Isaac called back. After stretching his arms and legs to get rid of the kinks, he pulled out his weapon and began the walk to the facilities, hoping to find Rosetta and create this Codex before the planet killed them.


End file.
